Dear friends,
One of the most fulfilling parts of my work with the Rural Assembly is meeting fascinating and inspiring people across rural America and hearing their stories firsthand. I’m excited to share a new way to bring those rural voices to more people: Yonder Radio, a free, weekly hour-long rural radio program and podcast.
Yonder Radio will feature nuanced stories that represent the 60 million people who live in rural America, and the distinct communities we call home.
Yonder Radio is produced by the Center for Rural Strategies, our parent organization and publisher of the Daily Yonder. Along with our colleagues at the Daily Yonder, our Rural Assembly team will connect enriching voices and stories to this collaborative radio show.
How to Listen to Yonder Radio
Yonder Radio will air weekly as a podcast and on radio stations across the country (more about that below – we hope you’ll help us spread the word to stations!).
We invite you to listen and add the podcast to your podcast feed!
How to Contribute to Yonder Radio
The Yonder Radio team would love for you to contribute. We’re looking for a range of contributions, including short (2-7 minutes) pre-produced segments, suggestions for people for us to interview about rural communities, projects, or organizations, and recommendations for featured music and musicians. We’d also love to hear about interesting events, celebrations, and traditions in your community.
Email the team at with your pitches or to set up a conversation about potential contributions.
Why Yonder Radio? Why now?
Public media just took a $1.1 billion hit, due to recent Congressional cuts, and as we’ve all seen, it’s rural broadcasters who bear the brunt.
And even before these cuts, the rural communities we all cover have felt the consequences of a media landscape transformed by conglomerates, consolidation, and the declining resources available to local outlets.
Let your local station know about Yonder Radio! Give them a call, tag them in a Yonder Radio instagram post or send them a note.
Learn more and listen the first episode at www.yonderradio.com
Episode 101
This week, we’re kicking off the hour with a story about what happens when corporations like Meta and Amazon build data centers in a rural community. These data centers are powering cloud computing and the AI boom, and supporters say they bring much needed economic development. But others are concerned about a lack of transparency, and that the centers will drain community resources. We’ll also hear about some of the wonders of roadside America, and how rural films fared at this year’s Academy Awards. We’ll step back in time to learn about ancient folk pottery traditions still being practiced in North Carolina, and we’ll hear some great rock and blues – and interview – from an artist behind the music, a member of Blue Mountain Tribe, three time winners of the Native American Music Awards.
